Taco Bell plans to open the third outpost of its Cantina concept, expanding the arm of its business aimed to boost interest among its target customers (read: millennials) living in urban areas.
The Austin, Texas, opening, reported by local news station KXAN, will replicate features of Taco Bell’s two other Cantina units—located in Chicago and San Francisco—including free Wi-Fi and the sale of beer, wine and mixed alcoholic drinks.
Despite concern from local residents about the restaurant’s aim to serve alcohol so close to the University of Texas campus, a Taco Bell spokesperson told the news outlet that it would take steps to ensure those sales are conducted responsibly.
Taco Bell has recently looked to pedestrian-friendly units such as its Cantina locations to increase its city presence.
“We’re underpenetrated in urban markets,” Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol told Bloomberg last year. “It’s where you have that density, and frankly where people aren’t in cars.”
In order to focus on its Cantina strategy, the brand last year shuttered its upscale experiment, U.S. Taco Co.